Techniques for welding, cutting or drilling workpieces with laser beams are well known. A patent to Okuda U.S Pat. No. 4,177,026 discloses the use of a laser beam in a machining operation. It is also known in the prior art that material may be heated to permit easier removal of machined parts during a machining operation. Such a method and apparatus relating to hot machining is disclosed in a patent to W. W. Caigill, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 2,861,166 (U.S. Pat. No. Re. 25,105). The cutting and removal of material from a rotating workpiece and moving the various cutting and removing elements as the machining process takes place is also known. Such a method and apparatus is disclosed in a patent to Blomgren et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,391.
Most of the techniques involving machining, such as the above-mentioned patents, have been directed to machining and removing of material from metal parts where the use of high forces and high speeds do not tend to damage the relatively solid metal workpiece being processed. Such techniques, however, cannot be directly applied to the machining of glass workpieces. The reason for this is the relatively brittle nature of glass and the tendency to crack if subjected to even relatively small amounts of forces.
At the same time it is highly desirable to produce systems and methods for removing material from the surface of glass under repeatably controlled conditions at relatively fast rates. For example, in the field of optics, the fast removal of glass material under controlled conditions could lead to high cost reduction for the elements used in optical systems.